BON Cloud reports that according to Reuters UK, the Indonesian Meikarta Satellite City Project recently completed the open tendering of a construction contract. The contract is worth as much as RMB Yuan 69.37 billion (about USD$10 billion). An earlier report by Bloomberg News stated that US tech company Apple Inc. also installed its Southeast Asia R&D center in this satellite city. All indications are that the Indonesian government is planning a new industrial town and economic center in eastern Jakarta.

Objectway, a leading provider of investment management and digital software solutions to the worldwide financial services industry, announced they have ranked #86 on the 2017 IDC FinTech Rankings. The most comprehensive vendor ranking within the financial services industry, the annual IDC FinTech Rankings is based on 2016 calendar year revenues attributed to financial institutions. 

Financial technology, an ugly duckling with modest beginnings in the back offices of fund management and insurance companies, has now emerged as the black swan called FinTech. 

Covering everything financial from pay-as-you-drive insurance (and, scarier, pay-how-you-drive) to crypto-currencies, FinTech is now one of the hottest properties for VCs from Silicon Valley to Shoreditch’s Tech City.

FinTech is not just a single disruptive technology but an entire range of digital processes that are set to transform the historically staid world of financial services.

Instabank, often dubbed a ‘Challenger Bank,’ is among a new breed of financial services that is taking hold of technology to meet the increasing demand for simplified, digital-first banking experience. The bank is using Provenir’s technology to aggregate credit applicant data from structured and unstructured data sources, including credit bureaux and its core banking system, to provide customers with an instantaneous credit decision.

Rabobank customers will as of today be able to use the IBAN-Name Check. The check helps to avoid incorrect transfers and fraud. The IBAN-Name Check has been developed by Rabobank and will also be made available to other banks.

ABN AMRO has invested in the innovative FinTech company Cloud Lending Solutions Inc. 

The NatWest Entrepreneurship Monitor has revealed a third of the population believe that London is the best place in the country to start a new business because of its good transport links and a strong local economy.

Instabank, often dubbed a ‘Challenger Bank,’ is among a new breed of financial services that is taking hold of technology to meet the increasing demand for simplified, digital-first banking experience. 

I’m making a presentation on cybersecurity this week at our Nordic Finance Innovation meetings. This meant preparing a few new slides from scratch as I don’t have a set deck for cybercrime, and sat and started ideas just as the news dropped about the Equifax breach.